Review: Northern Playalistic Cadillac Comedy

It was a gloomy Tuesday made of headaches and my apathetic fears of elementary school children dying upon their return to class. For a brief number of hours I considered turning down the invite to attend Big Norm’s latest show under his Bare Jokes Production Company banner. The memory of humourless April returned and reminded me comedy needs to be supported. Reclamation, adaptation and perseverance are all necessary components of my personal recipe for not letting the proverbial mental bastards of the new normal grind me down. 

Bare Jokes has always produced secret 420 friendly shows by their own rules which has left them poised to thrive and unphased by implementing a few COVID-19 restrictions. 

Their latest endeavour, the most mainstream to date, is a weekly show titled Northern Playalistic Cadillac Comedy. The name is an homage to the 1994 Outkast album and their venue, The Caddi, which is an outdoor venue on the back patio of the legendary Parkdale haunt The Cadillac Lounge. 

Comfortable wooden tables spaced out and facing an actual lit stage emulate a club setting easier than most clubs currently can. 

Big Norm rushes around in the darkness made recognizable by his pink fluffy beret. He’s called Big Norm, not for his height, but rather his personality, comedic style and is currently a fitting moniker for a producer and leader of his stature. No detail is left spared, no person made to feel unwelcome when Big Norm is involved. 

Taking the stage to host, Big Norm sets up the vibe of the evening, a laid back Tuesday. Comedy line ups are so good now talent is not spaced out - at least three comics on this night are headliners in their own right.

The show progressed with long sets that were conversational, philosophical and casual, yet the talent of everyone involved was such that it did not erode into sad COVID musings. Forced energy, ever present at some stand up shows, was not the move tonight! 

As Allan Shane Lewis took the stage I was glad I had silenced my urge to be anxious and lazy, and had decided to attend this show. It is a rare thing in recent years to see him perform stand-up after making the mainstage at The Second City. Rarer still is a comic who can be as good at sketch as they are at stand up. Lewis had concise earnest musings on drug culture and life in Toronto. It was clear his time in sketch has given his writing a vividness that made for a well focused relatable set. 

Ben Bankas, a multimedia shock comic “a defender of free speech” was up next. After a summer of everyone having an opinion of Ben Bankas, I was now about to form my own. As he took the stage at The Caddi, his energy and delivery were far more relaxed than I had anticipated. Bankas’ comedy belongs more to the political analysis evocative podcast listening class, than a Dice Clay shock comic. He did an impression of and joke around Dr. Theresa Tam that was obtuse and more than a little cringy in its simplicity. I challenged myself to watch him and his craft in the moment, like any other comic. 

In conclusion Ben Bankas offensive quality comes from the fact he does not fully understand the weaponry of the comedy he aspires to make. Dark Political comedy is necessary but a delicate dance. A welcome surprise while watching Bankas was moments when his comedy slipped into a space of contemporary absurdity that had a campy almost British feel to it. Those were also the times the audience, unaware of his reputation, were laughing the hardest. Every comic has the right to evolve their style. It will be interesting to see these elements of Bankas comedy fuse when they become more developed, and how many more DMs I will get about it in the process. 

I was starting to get cold by the time Allie Pearse was up but her sets always make me pay attention. Allie Pearse is sort of a leader in this contemporary girl gang of Toronto comics, and when she takes the stage she is happy to be there. Pearse has a grandness, a dignity to her performance. Even here in a back alley, off season tiki bar she does need to make the audience understand her emotions - she is aware of what they are. Keep up or don’t. She likes to dissect romance and call out the minimalist effort of the fuck boy generation and I am here for it. Every single time. 

The show was headlined by Keith Pedro. I will keep this concise as my thoughts on Pedro and his skill, showmanship, and work ethic are deserving of another piece entirely. Not a single comic I have seen has stronger material on all parts of Quarantine then Pedro. He emerged from six months with his wife, twins, and teenager with an entirely new set that does exactly what a comic’s job is right now - to make people laugh at the very painful confusing time we are living through. The mileage and focus of his set darting around the chilly outdoor stage leaves not a moment wasted. The desire to ball out on the government’s dime is a sentiment deeper than materialism. It's okay to feel good. Originally scheduled to record a special for Amazon Prime, Pedro laments, but not too hard, that “Bat soup was on the menu and dreams are on hold”.

The weed smoke hung heavy as it wafted from the designated side area as the show dispersed. I settled my bill contactlessly, sanitized my hands, and put my face shield back on. The ingenuity of the Toronto comedy scene in this moment is something I am excited to be around. 

The first Northern Playalistic Cadillac Comedy was a success - here’s hoping it’s rolling for a good, long moment. 

This review is of the Northern Playalistic Cadillac Comedy show on September 8, 2020.
This is a PWYC show that runs each Tuesday. Visit instagram.com/bignormcomedy for more info.

Big Norm at Yuk Yuks Toronto.